ARGENTINA | 26-04-2019 05:22

Santa Fe province heads to polls for primaries vote as electoral season heats up

The performance in the upcoming June provincial vote of the ruling Progressive Front, aligned nationally with so-called "third option" candidates, could determine the chances of a presidential candidate breaking through the polarisation between President Mauricio Macri and former president-cum-Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

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Contenders for the governship of Santa Fe, from left to right: Antonio Bonfatti, María Eugenia Bielsa and Omar Perotti. | File-Perfil

Voters in Santa Fe province, a key electoral battle ground in Argentina, will head to the polls on Sunday to vote in a primaries race that will determine the final slate of candidates for governor, vice-governor, as well as provincial and local lawmakers.

Among the parties contesting the June 16 vote, only the Peronist party is using this Sunday's PASO primaries contest to determine its final candidate for governor. The ruling Progressive Front and the national government's Cambiemos coalition candidate face no internal competition.

For the Progressive Front, former governor and sitting provincial Lower House speaker Antonio Bonfatti led a recent poll with 29.5 percent voting intention, according to data from Raúl Aragon y Asociados, published by Perfil.

President Macri visited the province on Wednesday to put his weight behind Corral, while several Cambiemos coalition members hit the airwaves and newspaper to talk up the national government's activities in the province. Some like firebrand lawmaker Elisa Carrió took things one step further, accusing former governor Bonfatti of having ties with drug-traffickers.

"If anyone wants to vote for the [drug-trafficking gang] Los Monos, then vote for Bonfatti," the Civic Coalition said during an interview with Rosario3.com during her visit to the province on Monday.

In turn, Bonfatti described Carrió as a "liar and serial destroyer," in dialogue with Radio La Red.

Bonfatti polls particularly well in Rosario, Argentina's third largest city, where he enjoys a voting intention of 31.2 percent.

The Progressive Front is aligned with the so-called "third option" candidacies of the likes of Sergio Massa and Roberto Lavagna. Its success – or failure – in June could determine third-option candidates' chances of breaking through the polarisation between President Mauricio Macri and former president-cum-Senator Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.